


Side Effects Include

by ThePlatypusPrincess



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Dialogue Heavy, Established Relationship, Established Routine, Fluff, Headcanon, I had an idea and ran with it, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Recall, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes is a Softie, Side Effects, Soldier Enhancement Program, brief mention of Moira, hana is a good egg, please be kind to my drabble, temporary deafness, temporary side effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 04:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15878772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePlatypusPrincess/pseuds/ThePlatypusPrincess
Summary: SEP wasn't as perfect as everyone thought.





	Side Effects Include

**Author's Note:**

> Ya boi is Daredevil trash and coupled with the headcanon that 76 Dad is blind, I figured I'd write a snippet. Also the D. Va short has me feeling all sorts of feels so I had to add her. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Gabriel saw the signs before it happened again. He was always prepared, but it was still unnerving every single time. SEP was supposed to have only enhanced the failing sight, not give his partner more problems. 

So, when Jack’s hand began to tremble, he was ready. 

Ana and Reinhardt were having one of their more raucous back-and-forths when Jack white-knuckled the galley counter. Gabe weaved his way through the agents, gently unlocking each finger joint from the Formica surface. His arm locked firmly around Jack's waist, tapping the inside of the shaking wrist with purpose. Jack straightened and allowed the specter to lead him away. 

The routine was simple, but it killed Gabe every time. The door to their quarters clicked behind him and he rushed his partner to the ensuite. 

At least Jack only looked a little pale and not like he was about to lose breakfast. 

Gabe positioned Jack against the wall opposite the toilet, flinging down a few towels they had stashed for exactly this purpose. A tap on Jack's neck sent the agent sliding downward, holding out his arms. The constant gloves and jacket were removed and Gabe pressed his partner to his side. The dark glasses were off, folded neatly on the sink instead of tossed in a panic. Gabe sighed. 

“This one makes five times this year alone. You're doing better.” 

His fingers tapped in Jack's open palm and the man smirked, the twist of his usual sardonic smile more of a grimace than anything. Still, it was a positive reaction. Jack sighed, ending the exhale with a whistle. Gabe performed their standard check. Negative. He pulled Jack into an embrace and stroked his one still-taloned glove up and down Jack's arm. 

A knock at the door brought him out of the trance and he growled. 

“Athena, who-?”

“Agent Song is outside.” 

“Damn. Alright. Just tell her to go slowly.” 

The slight MEKA pilot edged into the room, peeking through the second doorway. 

“Hey, everything ok?” 

Gabe shrugged. 

“I know stress when I see it. Panic or PTSD?” 

Gabe eyed her warily, unsure, but Hana had never given him any reason to doubt her sincerity. 

“Neither. Come over. Pull up a tile.” Hana hopped over to the toilet and Gabe shook his head. “Wouldn't block that if I were you. We're still in the delicate phase.” 

She sat gingerly on the edge of the tub and waited expectantly, face impassive as she watched Jack spasmodically twitch against his partner. 

“You probably know about SEP, right?” 

Hana nodded. 

“There are… side effects.” 

Jack let out a low keen and Gabe resumed the glove’s path over his shoulder. 

“Dumbass over here joined with already failing eyesight. Nearsighted as hell. Well on his way to going blind. So, techs went into his synapses and fixed it.” He glanced down at Jack's twitching hand. “The program was young. They'd had no failures and the HUD was always a backup just in case. He can see perfectly in battle with it on still. But outside…” Gabe paused, noting that Jack was performing a self-check. “Whatever they did to fix his vision screwed with his other senses. Imagine your legs just one day collapsing out from under you. No cause. They just die.” He ran his hand over Jack's head, tilting it more toward him. “That's what happens with his hearing. A sense you rely on more when you're out of battle just dies and you panic because there's no way to get any backup. Blind and deaf.” 

Hana hesitated before reaching out to Jack. He flinched as the new fingers touched his hand and gave a soft whimper. Gabe tapped rhythmically on the side of his neck and the soldier relaxed, fingers curling around Hana’s. 

“Morse code?” She asked, moving to get on their level. Gabe nodded. 

“We originally tried ASL but I'm terrible at it and he's no Helen Keller. Morse code works and I don't have to take off my gloves in case it happens on the battlefield. He can tell the difference between a tap and a letter. Just don't sneak up on him. The receiving end of his flailing requires body armor.” 

Hana nodded and waited quietly as Jack's breathing evened out from it's rabbit-like pace. 

“How do you know when an episode is over?” 

“We periodically do checks with ear clicks to see if there are any responses. Sometimes he'll tell me. Other times I hum.” 

Hana brightened immediately. “No way! Oh, you gotta now. Let me go get my diagnostic tablet and I'll be right back.” She paused. “I won't let anyone else in.” 

“Not on your life, kid.”

Gabe’s growl failed in its intended purpose of warning her off and he ended up simply resting his chin on Jack’s head as the soldier made himself quite comfortable by his side. Fingers fluttered against Gabe’s leg until Jack found his knee and began tapping. 

“Calm. Better. Nothing.” 

“Okay,”

The word, said aloud and in code, was at least something. It felt like dying all over again for Gabriel. They’d been apart for so long and each episode brought that painfully to the forefront that he hadn’t been there. He shoved the intrusions out of his mind; each oversaturated image of Jack alone too much for him to handle. 

This was what mattered. He was here. This was now. He couldn’t have the near decade back, but he was going to make damn sure he was here for the next one. 

Hana locked the door behind her as she returned, cups and tablet in hand. Gabe raised an eyebrow as she sat down. 

“Figured you’d probably need water. Or at least him because I actually don’t know what you need but I figured this would help.” The multicolored, mismatched plastic containers were lined up in a neat row on the counter as she began running her tests. Gabe watched idly as she focused on the screen. 

“Normally you’re a bundle of questions. I’m surprised the rest didn’t follow you in.”

The MEKA pilot smirked. “I am but I figured now isn’t the time. And they did. Nearly had to fight off Lena with a stick. Except I don’t have a stick and I wasn’t about to steal Torbjorn’s wrench because I have my own.”

Gabe eyed her as she stole furtive glances at Jack. “You look like you’re about to explode.”

“Can I?”

“Go ahead.”

Hana crossed her legs on the floor into a pretzel and looked Gabe straight in the eye. “When did you first discover it?” 

“Heard a crash from Morrison’s room early on in the recovery process and discovered this idiot floundering on the floor because he couldn’t find his bed. It took me forever to calm him down long enough to tell him who I was. When it took so long for him to respond, I figured out he couldn’t actually hear me. Took him to the med bay after it was all over because any movement just startled him into trying to fight. They couldn’t find anything wrong so we dismissed it as a fluke until it started happening regularly.”

Hana frowned, jotting notes down on her tablet. “Did anyone actually do a test while it was happening?”

“Angela doesn’t know.”

The tapping against the screen stopped and she looked up. “What?”

“Don’t get me wrong. We all love her, but had I taken him to her during the heyday of Overwatch, she would have probably grounded him permanently. So, I called in our… Blackwatch medic.” He grimaced as he said it, nose wrinkling at the memory of long claws and glowing tubes. 

“Did they find anything?”

Gabe shook his head. “Nah. That was the weird bit. Moira was fascinated by the case and fixated on it for months. I called her in during one of Jack’s attacks because we had a mission that day and she ran ever test in the book and then some that could have only come out of her head.” He snapped his fingers in another check. “She couldn’t find anything medically wrong. Synapses were still firing as normal, but he couldn’t register sound or vision.” 

“Thats… that’s a little weird.”

“She theorized that something had simply gone awry in his head due to the SEP tampering. The trouble was, she never found out what it was. Either way, physical or psychosomatic, this thing is just here to stay. She thought it might be a product of stress, but we could never prove it.”

 

Hana nodded. “Got it. Don’t stress out dad.”

Gabe bristled at the team nickname as Hana started chatting again. 

“Why did she never get an answer?”

“Overwatch let her go due to ‘irreconcilable differences.’”

Hana cocked her head to the side. “That’s vague.”

“The woman was a walking irreconcilable difference. Pick a day and you’ll find something that the top brass signed off on but then disavowed later.” 

“Wow. The original Overwatch was a mess, huh?”

Gabe couldn’t stop the snarl. “You don’t know the half of it. Literally.” 

Jack stirred and tilted his head up at Hana. “Wha ‘e said.”

The other two in the room jumped in surprise as Jack shook his head. Gabe performed the check once more, keeping his face neutral as his heart leapt every time Jack turned toward the snap. 

“Is it over?”

Jack blinked rapidly, pupils finally contracting at the light in the bathroom. “I think so.” He looked up at Hana and gave a half smile. “So, you found out?”

“Gotta make sure everyone is ok and ready to defend the world if necessary. We can’t have you falling down on the job.” 

Jack inclined his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I guess you can’t keep it from Mercy anymore, huh?” asked Hana, turning to Gabe. 

“I doubt it.” He patted Jack’s shoulder. “Ready for a perma-grounding?”

“Guess we can’t avoid it.”

Gabe nodded, helping his partner upright. “Right. We’ll let Hana lead. After all, she took notes.”

Hana stuck her tongue out at Gabe, but still led the way out of the room and back to the hustle and bustle of the new guard.


End file.
